RE: Straw man argument

["Downes, Stephen" <Stephen.Downes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hiya,

> From: "Joseph J. Esposito" <espositoj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

> The money to explore and develop new artists
> essentially is a subsidy from the established major artists. 
> The current system thus tends to redistribute income from the 
> bestsellers to the smaller titles. This is the precise 
> opposite of the popular perception, but the popular 
> perception is wrong.

> At risk in file-sharing is the research and development money
> for new artists. That's the real price. Prince and Madonna 
> (and Courtney Love) can thumb their noses at record labels, 
> but the unknown artists have a tougher time. Clearly many 
> people now believe that that is a price they are willing to pay.

This is not original argumentation; it is a line of reasoning being promoted
in recent releases from the music industry
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/11/1057783358799.html
as they argue that the sale of copied CDs has now reached
$1 billion. See also:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,995979,00.html

This line of argument is most likely a response to the widely cited argument
that peer to peer systems help new artists gain recognition. It is probably
also a response to the threat of a lawsuit against the RIAA from small
webcasters, who argue that the independents are being forced out.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-1020614.html
"The RIAA is illegally "attempting to manipulate the small 
commercial Webcasting market in order to unlawfully maintain 
its core monopoly," the group contended in its letter to the 
music trade association sent Tuesday."

At any rate, the argument is not plausible. Though record 
companies no doubt spend money on research and development, 
this money is spent in order to develop their own products 
and sales, not in order to aid new artists. If any new 
artists benefit from such spending, that is a happy
byproduct, and not the intended objective of the spending.

It is unlikely that new or developing artists see the record industry as
benefactors. This one artist's report is typical: 
"Between the lawyers, managers and record companies these days, 
they don't know what's going on," says Maida. "So many young 
bands get signed because they have one single the record company 
likes. They put it out there, nothing happens and that's it. 
It's really sad." 
http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/story.asp?id=1F1266CE-F613-4E
D6-9E62-82241F78476E


-- Stephen

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